Apollo the Telling Truth
by Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth
Summary: Apollo the truth teller ruins Link and Malon's life. Chapter 9: The alternate ending. My former penname was Apollo the Telling Truth if it helps you recognize it. FINISHED.
1. Prologue: Fuel For the Feeding End

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

I wrote this prologue after I was nearly done with the story, because I realized it was missing a piece. Ironically, it makes a bit more sense if you read the rest of the story _first_, but this has to go chronologically. I originally published the first three chapters, but then took them down so I could rewrite the whole story. I hope you like it. All disclaimers and such are in Chapter 1: Cuts Marked in the March of Men.

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Prologue: Fuel For the Feeding End 

The Gerudo were superstitious people. When a truth was told or foretold, they would change their entire lives to shape it if necessary.

One human boy clad in black once came to another Gerudo whose power was beginning to rise once. The Gerudo's name was Ganondorf. The boy was known as the Telling Truth.

"Ganondorf." The boy did not ask the name, he knew it. "I rarely predict the future, I normally only reveal truth of the present. But this is so certain that I must reveal it to you."

Ganondorf leaned forward. "What? Tell me!"

The hood stayed down over the boy's eyes. "Soon, you will meet a boy. He will seem unimportant to you at first, but _spare his life_. He will become, much by accident, a key to you. He will open doors you never imagined possible. Remember this: Crush who you must, but at least at first, spare the boy."

He turned and walked away. Ganondorf called after him. "Who is this boy?"

The Telling Truth stopped and turned his head to the side. "His name is Link."

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**End of Prologue**

There, I think I tied that in to OoT pretty well. Now read on if you want to see why this is important at all and not just cool. (Did I mention how modest I am?) But just for the record, I do NOT want you to get the impression that the Telling Truth is evil, because he's not. He goes where he needs to, and he wants to do good, but as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. So he is NOT evil. Read on.


	2. 1: Cuts Marked in the March of Men

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

Rated T for some disturbing description and language.

My OC, Apollo, is based not on me, but my pen name. Both are derived from a Coheed and Cambria song, but the character's actual personality is from my own imagination. However, since everyone seems to love saying this so much, I own neither Zelda nor Coheed and Cambria. Seriously, people. I think that's pretty obvious. Anyway, that applies to _all_ chapters. Every chapter will be the name of a Coheed and Cambria song, perhaps with some slight modification to fit the subject. Actually, if you look closely, several other characters will be Coheed references as well.

This story is set about three years after the events of Ocarina of Time, with the characters in their adult ages, and disregards Majora. Link and Malon are in love but haven't admitted it to each other yet, and he stays with her because he wouldn't be welcome in the Kokiri Forest as an adult, and from my reading of Link's personality he wouldn't like being surrounded by royalty every night. So he goes to the ranch, where he gets a sense of being at home. Talon has been dead for a while of heart failure.

And just for a bit of background on what made me choose the character's name:

"In my presence

You will make sure the fiction meets its fate

That death will grace your face…

Through these lessons you have learned

All the worlds from here must burn"

Coheed and Cambria, _Apollo II: The Telling Truth_

_

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_

**Chapter 1: Cuts Marked in the March of Men**

"Listen to the world on the outside pressing in

Are you ready in my mind?"

Coheed and Cambria, _Cuts Marked in the March of Men_

Blood trickled down Link's arm from a series of tiny cuts. He looked at it with distaste and dabbed the wounds with a leaf.

Now what would he say? A thorn bush wouldn't leave straight, individual cuts. A cat certainly couldn't cover so much area. The claws of the Wolfos left longer, deeper gashes.

Link sighed. He couldn't see how he was going to get out of explaining this one. It would be the third time he would be coming home with his arm full of cuts. Each time he had worn long sleeves or scrubbed them so hard that the skin around the area turned red, and he passed it off as having skinned his arm on a rock. But this time someone would finally notice that he was cutting.

Later that night, his prediction came true.

"Link," Malon said sharply, watching his arm reach out for the saltshaker. "What are those?"

Link cursed himself and let his arm hang back at his side. "Nothing. I—I ran into some trouble in the woods."

Malon's eyes narrowed. She was about to keep asking when there was a knock at the door.

Link got up and walked over, mentally performing the Hylian equivalent of crossing himself in relief, but at three triangular points to symbolize the Triforce and the three goddesses. He opened the door a fraction and saw a black-robed man, drenched in rain. He opened it slightly wider, sensing no danger. "Can I help you?"

The man looked up, and by the look of his face he was about the same age as Link. His eyes were hidden in shadow. "I need a place to stay."

Link was about to say that they couldn't help, but something about the man intrigued him. Besides, he had just finished fixing the roof of the other building. "For how long?"

Malon appeared at Link's side, looking at the figure in the rain.

"I don't know yet. But it will certainly be for more than one night."

Something about the man's speech was off-putting, and yet he spoke so warmly that it was charming. They agreed that he could stay for a while, and Malon invited him to eat with them.

When they were all sitting back at the table, Link felt a sharp jab in the side of his leg as Malon kicked him. He looked at her and she hissed quietly, "When he's gone, you and I have some talking to do."

The man, who looked younger and even almost childlike out of the rain and with his black hood down, sat looking down and said nothing. But Link could tell by the way that he imperceptibly sat straighter that he had heard.

As they ate, the silence grew heavy and uncomfortable. Link turned his head to the man. "I never asked your name."

"That's true, you didn't." The man put down the cup he was sipping from. "My name is Apollo."

They ate in silence for another minute as Link waited to be asked his name. But the question never arrived, so he took it upon himself. "Mine is Link. This is Malon."

As he said this, Link wondered if from the presumptuous introduction of the woman and being alone together at the table that Apollo would get the impression that they were married. But Apollo simply nodded.

"What brings you here?"

Apollo, for the first time, looked at a point higher than the table, and after a moment directly at Link's eyes. Link was startled to see that Apollo's eyes were a pure, shining gold. They were captivating, and Link suddenly began to see the man himself in the same gold color. He filled up more and more of Link's vision until Link felt himself be consumed. And suddenly there was a presence in his mind, looking through every facet of who Link was, and what he knew, his feelings, his memories…

With a gasp, Link was sitting back at the table. Apollo had returned his gaze to his plate. Link suddenly felt dizzy and hardly heard Apollo as he spoke. "I go where I'm needed."

Malon was looking at Link out of the corner of her eye. A change seemed to have come over him. But she spoke to Apollo. "What makes you think you're needed here?"

"That's right." Link spoke up, with a very odd, aggressive but somehow more confused than hostile edge to his voice, as if he was more asking for reassurance than stating a fact. "Everything's fine here. We don't need help."

Apollo looked up into Link's eyes again, and Malon could see him freeze in his chair as his eyes glazed over. Then his gaze dropped again, and Link regained control.

Apollo spoke to the food on his plate. "The cuts on your arm say otherwise."

Link dropped the fork he was picking up and Malon gave a start. Link was _cutting?_

Apollo continued to eat as though nothing had happened, while both of the others at the table stared at him, and then each other.

There was a hunted, frightened look in Link's eyes. Malon was practically bursting to yell at him, question him, make him confess everything. But in front of a guest, all she could bring herself to say was, "I think I need to talk to you after dinner."

Link put down his fork and held his head in his hands for a moment. Then he stood up and walked out the door without a word. 

Apollo continued to eat in silence. This frustrated Malon so much that she had to say something.

"How do you know he's cutting?"

Apollo looked up into her eyes, and she was seized with a moment of fear as she felt something reach into her mind and open it up. Then he released her from his gaze and she gasped for breath. And he said, "I speak the truth." That was all.

"Your eyes," Malon managed to say.

Apollo smiled. "My mother always said they were my best feature." He placed an odd, venomous emphasis on "my mother." His smile disappeared. "But they weren't always like this."

His head suddenly jerked around to face the door, as if he had heard a knock. "But that story must wait. Consider me finished with dinner, and thank you for it. I'll be back later." He walked to the door, pulled up his hood, and strode into the rain.

Malon sat at the table for a good five minutes. Then she cleared all the places and walked out into the rain.

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**End of Chapter 1**

I know this is a slow and awkward start, but the story will develop as it goes. This story was written all at once, but if enough suggestions are made I might revise it. So please review!


	3. 2: Lying Lies and Dirty Secrets

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

This chapter reveals something about Apollo's past and why Link is being so stupid as to cut. By the way, this story is emphatically _not_ advertising the fact that I cut, because I don't. It is sending a message that cutting is a stupid and awful thing to do to your body. I hate to do a PSA but if you cut or know someone who does, stop it.

Apollo's parents' names are from Coheed songs (the mother's name is obvious if you look at the chapter title). Just a disclaimer.

Chapter 2: The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court "Now off to the Hell your God has sold 

To find that never again will you rely

On the word of your friends

In the unwritten end

For when you go they won't be following"

Coheed and Cambria, _The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court_

"I'm not going to ask how you knew."

Apollo stood next to Link, watching the stormy sky. "Yes. Because you already know."

"Right." Link shivered, not from the rain, which was warm, but from the way that Apollo had, just minutes ago, tore down the walls around Link's secret. "I don't understand it. But I know."

"I know." Standing out here in the open rain, and not in the closed awkwardness of the kitchen, Apollo suddenly seemed much more human to Link. "I'm sorry I had to do that to you. I do it to many people, and not one has ever appreciated it. But it's my life. I find the truth in people and make it known, for whether it hurts them or not, it has to be done."

Link looked at Apollo. He got the feeling from his earlier taciturn manner that Apollo saved his words for when he really needed them. "Why do you do that?"

Apollo's gaze was lowered to the river flowing beneath the cliff they stood on. "It began when I was about twelve."

"What?"

Erica Court, Apollo's mother, looked as if her heart were being torn from her to say it. "You're not our real child."

Matthew, his father, couldn't look at his wife or his (as it happened) adopted son.

"Then… why did you always tell me…" Apollo couldn't find words to express the betrayal he felt.

Erica was almost crying. "We thought you would be happier if you thought you were. Please forgive us."

Apollo sat down hard on the floor. His mind was spinning. Matthew still couldn't look.

"Apollo, I'm so sorry. We never meant… we wanted… it was for you!" Tears were running down Erica's face now. "We lied so you could be happy!"

Apollo stood up. "But you didn't think that someday you would have to tell me?" His voice was deep and hollow.

"I…" Erica couldn't find anything to say.

Apollo stood there and looked at his mother with a gaze that made her wish to die. Then he turned and walked out of the house.

Several hours later, he stood on a cliff overlooking a river. There was nothing left. His parents had been the only ones who had accepted him, and they had revealed now that he was not theirs.

Apollo, with a terrible feeling of finality, and yet satisfaction, leaned forward and let his body plunge through the misty air. He hit the water far below hard and his spine snapped, severing the skin of his back. Blood gushed from the ugly wound, and flesh hung loosely from his back as he floated on the river that slowly became a translucent shade of red.

Seconds passed that took millennia. Apollo knew only infinite white space for time that he did not try to measure.

Over the course of a hundred years or two minutes, he became aware of his own existence. He saw what was in front of him, he felt his body encasing him. He tested his voice and heard it.

A voice that was not his own formed in his mind.

_Why did you do this?_

Do what? Ah, right. I remember now. I took my own life… Why did I do it? Because they lied to me.

_Is that so terrible?_

Yes. Yes. Lying can only lead to terrible things, no matter if it is done for good or for bad. The truth must be told.

_Is this truly what you believe?_

Yes. Apollo would have cried but his body had forgotten how. Yes. It is the only thing that I believe.

_You can return to the world of the living, if you truly believe that everyone should tell the truth. You will go from place to place when lies are hurting lives. You will bring the truth to people. But because this is your belief, you will bear the consequences._

Yes. Please, let me do that. I will take all the blame. The truth must be known.

Apollo suddenly felt a wave of pain that could not possibly be described as he was flung back into his broken and dead body that floated in the river. But suddenly time flowed backwards, and he was carried half a mile back the river and back upward onto the cliff.

He stood on top of the cliff, gazing down into the river. And suddenly he saw, transparently and with a gold sheen, his dead body floating through it.

_Know that what you see is the truth, Apollo. You will always be able to see a hiding of the truth, marked by gold. But know that by defying your true death, you are lying to everyone. No good will come until you find someone who will accept the truth you give them and have enough mercy to take your life for you. Until then, you will live what can only be called a lie._

One person's worthless life can be a lie, if it is for the sake of the rest of humanity, Apollo thought at the voice in his head. Then he turned and walked away.

Link stood in silence for a moment. "So you see the truth?"

Apollo nodded, looking again into the river where he had seen his death. "I see it and I tell it. And I bear the consequences."

Link reflected on that. "It must be terrible."

Apollo smiled without a trace of happiness. "It is. But the truth is told."

Link looked sideways at him. "So you know why…"

Apollo gazed at his arm. In his eyes, the cuts shone brightly, but Link's entire body had an aura around it. Malon's entire body had radiated with gold from the secret that she was dying to tell. Link was the same.

"Yes." Apollo looked up at Link's eyes. He saw the other flinch, but when Apollo did not seek truth, Link relaxed.

"Yes. I know why you defiled yourself. You believe, childishly, that by making yourself imperfect, somehow your goodness and happiness will go to her."

"What? No!" Link was surprised. "No. I did it because I was confused. I didn't know… I want to love her, but the way my life has been… if anything ever happened to me, or to her…"

"And why did you cut yourself for this?"

Link faltered. "…So I had physical pain to distract me from what I felt in my mind."

Apollo's eyes narrowed. "You lie."

Coming from Apollo, this was the ultimate damnation. Link stumbled backward with the force of the emotion that had come through the words.

"You feel worse when the blade pierces your skin. When it tears apart your flesh and plunges into your bloodstream, you remember exactly why, and you pray to the goddesses for all the pain to stop. Your ridiculous self-penance, odd as it seems, is being selfless. You cut not to give yourself more pain, but to take it away from the person you love."

The words hammered into Link's mind with the brute strength of a club. And as he realized this utter truth, he cried.

Apollo held Link close to him and spoke words of forgiveness. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but at least you had them. I know you did not lie for your own sake, and what you said about your confusion was true." He picked Link up off his shoulder and looked into his eyes, and this time he was not taking the truth but giving it. "Would you like to know the truth?"

Link nodded helplessly.

"There are two things that can happen. The first one is, you can love her, but if something happens, and it probably will, I bear the pain for you. Because that's the reason I live. The second way it could go is that you could torture yourself and her forever by never admitting that you love each other. But still, I will be the one who takes your pain." Apollo released Link and walked away.

Link stood horribly still. He felt the guilt that can only come from having the blood of another on your hands. He would be the cause of terrible pain for Apollo. He believed more fervently than he had ever believed anything else that Apollo's truth was the only one worth hearing.

Malon somehow found him through the darkness and the shroud of rain. She placed a hand on his uncut arm. "Link, what's going on? Where's Apollo?"

Link looked at her. This was the woman that he might selfishly love, but couldn't, because he couldn't force the consequences on Apollo. And yet he couldn't _not_ love her. She was his closest friend of all.

Link told her the story of everything Apollo had said, leaving out the discussion of why Link had cut and what came after that.

Malon gazed at the river. "So that's what he was doing…" She was silent for a minute, and then she looked Link in the eye again. "Link, why did you do this to yourself?" She touched the closing wounds on his arm. Her voice was fierce.

Link closed his eyes and cried for the second time that night. The fierceness melted away from Malon immediately, and she held him tightly to her as he cried into her shoulder. What could this man do, she wondered, that has so completely opened us to him already?

End of Chapter 2

Wow, I'm actually sort of proud of that chapter. I may have overdone Link's crying a bit, though. Let me know what you think!


	4. 3: Always and Never

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

Well, now that I've set up who Apollo is and revealed where things are going, much of what comes now will be just filler. But I promise it'll be the best filler it can be.

CALLOUTS: Sorry I started doing this a little late.

BigWillyStyle: WORD on the first review. Glad you appreciate the subtle lil' references I slipped in there….

……………..

……………..

………….

He BROKE his HAND?

Damn.

You know, I really thought Claudio was a woman for a very long time… the vocals on A Favor House Atlantic just seem so… feminine.

By the way, I already finished this fic. I'm working on a sequel called Time Consumer. Hehehehe. It's based on the only part of the C&C storyline I know, from that one song.

Crazed Individual: Well thank you, and I do believe you found out in Chapter 2 why Link was cutting. And if you are averse to that for some reason… well you may want to skip Chapter 4 when it gets up. Can you say "graphic description?"

Shadow Hitokiri: Back at you! TP forever… when it actually comes out.

Okay, I'll just say this and please pardon the language. I am _sick to my fucking stomach_ of rape fics. I'm unwilling to open anything that says "romance/drama" now. Even rated T ones have graphic stuff in them about it. Seriously. It's been done. I speak for a lot of people, I think, when I say that we've had enough of Ingo raping Malon, Ganondorf raping Zelda, and what have you. You can create drama without it if you be creative. Think about it. Two people I know have told me they cried reading the later chapters of this, and there's nothing about sex. Not to say I'm a prude (hehe), but there are other ways of creating tension. And some people apparently are horny, but if you have sex in a story, _don't turn it into porn._ In probably the third story (yes this will be a trilogy, and the third will probably be rated M) I think I have one (not finished with the storyline yet), but if you're looking for a quick fix go somewhere else.

Chapter 3: Always & Never "Behind your sealed eyes you miss 

All that I've done for you

Will you catch me when I run?

If timing plays evident

What would you say when you're late?"

Coheed and Cambria, _Always & Never_

"You killed me."

Link gazed into Apollo's grave, and heard the man speak to him. He nodded, feeling no regret but acknowledging the fact. "Yes. I killed you so I could love Malon."

"And you are telling the truth."

Link thought about that for a moment. "Yes, I am."

Apollo was gone forever. No more truth-tellers interfering with life…

Malon, his wife, had given birth. After it was cleaned off, Link saw that the baby girl had startlingly gold eyes.

So went Link's dreams, night after night. And each morning, they were forgotten.

"So if you tell the truth…"

Apollo looked up from the chores he was helping with. Link was shoveling, but had a look on his face that suggested he was thinking about something else.

"If you tell the truth, why can't you just say what it is that will happen to Malon or me? If you say it, won't it be true?"

"I can't make things the way I want them to be."

Link frowned and flung a shovelful of dung onto the growing heap. "No, that's not what I mean. If you say something, and you have to tell the truth, then what you say will be what's going to happen, won't it? Whatever you think of to say is what's preordained?"

Apollo thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Wouldn't work."

"How come?"

"Well…" Apollo couldn't find a simile and decided to go for a straight explanation. "The truth is always changing. Even something that I say could become not true. And it's not a lie, because it was the truth _when I said it—_it's just that the truth changes."

"So you could say something, and then I would do something else, and then it wouldn't be the truth anymore?"

"Well, what I said would no longer be truth. But what you did would have been."

"What do you mean?"

Apollo tried to find words to explain what he had taken as a given. "If I say that you will do something, and you decide to deliberately do the opposite, then that will still be truth. It will just be a new truth."

Link thought about it and thought he understood.

"So everything that happens, it's really true?"

"Yes. But I can't make what I say be true."

"Ah."

Apollo concentrated at Link and saw a trace of gold around him. "What is it?"

Link shook his head. "I was just wondering, if what you said might not be the truth. That it might not have to be that way."

Apollo sighed. "It's possible. Do not even begin to get your hopes up, but… there are always other paths that can be taken in the future. I mainly tell the truth only about the present, telling it about the future is iffy at best. There are a thousand things that can go wrong. That's why I try to not become a diviner."

"I see…"

"You could say that there _is_ no real truth about the future until it becomes the present."

"So I should just forget everything you said last night?"

Apollo sighed. "Maybe, Link, and maybe not. For once I'm going to speak purely of my gut feeling… no good will come at least for one of us if you love Malon. But it will surely come to both of you if you continue denying it to each other. And to bear burdens is what I was reborn for."

Link could see that it hurt him to say this. "I don't want something to happen to you either."

Apollo smiled ironically. "Well in that case, it just comes down to who you value more. Someone will be hurt. It's up to you to decide who."

Apollo finished his shoveling and walked away. Link looked down at his pile and realized that he had been shoveling dirt for half an hour and Apollo hadn't bothered to tell him.

He must really hate me, Link thought. He knows that I would never hurt Malon, and I barely know him. He's lived his entire life sacrificing himself for the greater good. I can't do this to him.

Link leaned on his shovel and looked into the window. He could see Malon there. One of the few people who had stuck by him after the ordeal of Ganondorf. The woman that he loved.

She turned and glanced out the window, and met his eyes. She smiled and waved a hand before returning to whatever it was she was doing.

Link was utterly torn. Here he held the happiness of two people in his hands. He could hurt Malon by never allowing himself to fall in love with her, or he could hurt Apollo by allowing him to bear the brunt of whatever terrible thing would might if they loved each other.

Two people? No, Link was wrong. He held the happiness of three.

But he knew that his own didn't matter, because he would have regrets no matter what he did.

**End of chapter 3**

Ooh, baby. Next chapter gets weird.

By the way, I thought you guys might be interested to know that my sister read this story. I quote her:

"It was the most emo thing I've read in a verrrrrrrry long time."

I AM NOT EMO. I just write emo stuff because it's fun.


	5. 4: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

Well, I just had the crap depressed out of me reading angst-y fics. So forgive me if the chapter is a bit lackluster.

Just a heads up, this chapter has some pretty graphic description. If you're squeamish I apologize.

Chapter 4: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness 

"What is this that I feel, and what is this that I fear?"

Coheed and Cambria, _The Willing Well II: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness_

That night, Link looked out at the silver moon and wondered just how all this had happened.

A few days ago, he would have been willing to wait a little while, but he would have confessed his love for Malon anyway. Now here Apollo came along and had to tell him so, and put himself in the balance. If he just had not come to the ranch… no, if Link had just not started cutting…

If only he could have told her earlier. In the war, after seven years of imprisonment… emotions were running high, and she had been kept as virtually a slave by Ingo for all those years… it would have been so much easier then, on his first time at the ranch, just to take her hand and slowly kiss her, give her back the world after she'd had it taken away so long before…

No. Link couldn't do it now. Apollo would have to bear whatever pain came out of it. No matter how much of a stranger the man was, Link couldn't bring himself to do that to someone.

But Malon, said another voice inside him. You want her. There's nothing to stop you. The whole reason Apollo _exists_ is to take the pain for people once the truth sets in.

No, he thought back. I can't hurt him further by shoving my own problems on him.

They're my own problems. My own. And I can solve them however I like…

Later, Link sat in the kitchen. He had in his hand a slender but deceptively sharp knife. Its lightness made Link wonder what good it was in the culinary arts. But he didn't need it for food.

He picked out an unmarked spot on his arm. He placed the knife on the skin reflectively.

Slowly, Link applied pressure, feeling the telltale moment of sharp pain as the skin was broken. His arm stung and seared. He dragged the blade two inches towards him and watched warm blood trickle out of the fresh cut, dripping onto the floor. The cut was made with the precision of a surgeon and the intense care of an artist.

That was for Apollo. A long-reaching cut at the beginning that opened the door for the others.

He cut himself again near his shoulder where his sleeve might conceal it. That one was for his love for Malon. If he tried he could deny it existed, but anyone looking closely would see it. And he couldn't ignore it for long.

The third cut, Link thought, would be for himself. The small selfish cut that he would savor the pain of, enjoying the terrible self-loathing and channeling it into self-pity, and degrading himself in his mind as he carried his wounded self up to bed.

Where would be the best place for the most shameful cut? The wrist. The most shameful place to display a wound. Sighing, Link took the knife, dripping with his blood, and placed it again on his skin that was now tender from having healed so many times over.

"Link, _stop_!"

_Fck!_ Link jumped and nearly dropped the knife at the sound of the voice he least wanted to hear at the moment. He turned around quickly and saw Malon hurrying down the stairs. "Malon! What the hell are you doing awake?"

"I heard the knife drawer open," Malon said haltingly. She caught sight of the fresh blood seeping from the two cuts. "Oh, Link… oh Goddesses, Link… why did you… why are you still…" she gestured hopelessly at the knife still clenched in Link's left hand. Tears were shining in the edges of her eyes. She sat down hard in a chair.

"Malon, please, I don't mean to… Please… don't cry," he asked lamely, sitting opposite her. Why wouldn't she cry? You selfish bastard. You didn't think anyone would _care_? You didn't realize it would be painful for her to see?

"Why shouldn't I?" She said, echoing his thoughts in the most damning voice Link had ever heard from her. "Link, why are you doing this? _Why_? There's no reason you can give me that can justify you continuing to do this! You talked to Apollo! You've gotten it out of your system! Why did you… oh Goddesses…" A tear rolled down her cheek.

Link had no response. How could he tell her now, after angering and worrying her? How could he tell her that he was cutting, at least in part, because he thought she was the most stunningly beautiful woman in the world, and the sweetest, and kindest, and the most caring friend anyone had ever been to him? How could he tell her that he loved her and wanted more than anything else to spend the rest of his life together only with her and—

His thoughts were interrupted as Malon pulled up his right sleeve. She jabbed a finger at the cut that had, unbeknownst to her, been opened for her. "You tried to _hide_ this one? You thought no one would see?"

"Malon, listen. Please." Link felt like a child trying to justify himself to his mother, but he knew she should understand, at least in part.

Malon relented and sat back in her chair.

"When I… do this… I always have a reason." He swallowed. "I don't do this because it's fun, or I like to. I do it because I need to… get rid of something inside me. It… distracts me. What I don't like sort of comes out through the opening." Link could see her on the verge of breaking down further. "I hid this one because… each one has its own reason. I hid this one because I'm hiding its reason from everyone."

Malon controlled herself with an effort.

"Link, Apollo is here. You won't be able to hide anything from him."

"Of course I can't. He already knows."

"Then why did you still fcking _cut_ yourself, you stupid, thoughtless…" Malon took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." She suddenly began to cry in earnest. "Oh, Goddesses, Link, I don't want you to do this! I'm not angry, you're not hurting _me_, you don't _mean_ to hurt me, I…" she stopped, took another deep breath that seemed to take every ounce of effort she had. "Link, I don't want you to do this to yourself. You don't deserve it. If it's something wrong, tell me and I can help. You don't need to do this." There was a pleading in her voice.

He had to tell her. There was no way he could leave it like this and not explain. But Link couldn't find the words.

Malon took his silence to mean, I don't need you, go away. "Fine." She stood up, almost knocking over the chair. "Fine. You can go on fcking cutting yourself into little pieces, you can cut your throat for all I care, but I hope you know just how much it hurts me every time you put that knife on your skin." She turned and stormed off toward the stairs.

As the door slammed, Link dropped his head into his hands. Goddamn it, he'd made things even worse. How could this happen to him? Why…

Pain. All he needed now was a little more pain, just to ease his mind. He had to push himself to just the level of pain he _deserved_, pathetic human being that he was.

With a trembling hand, Link picked up the knife again. But it wasn't enough to do this. He needed to make it known that he was having his penance for the evils he had committed.

Malon had to know.

Link walked up the stairs and heard the sounds of Malon crying suddenly stop. He knocked on the door. There was no answer for a moment, so he swung it open. Malon was lying in bed, completely wide awake.

The sight of her made Link scream inwardly, don't do this, you fool, you insensitive fool, what are you doing to her, just tell her, swear you'll never do it again, you fool, don't do it! But he knew he had to suffer for what he had done to her, and she had to know he was suffering. It was the only way she might ever forgive him.

"Malon?"

She looked at him with terrified eyes that spoke of betrayal, hatred, and a terrible sadness. But behind all those emotions, unbeknownst to Link, there was the deep calling of love, and that side of Malon was saying, Don't do this, come to bed with me, tell me you love me, put the knife down and never pick it up again, live forever with me and be happy, don't make it worse for yourself!

But Link could not hear.

"I just want you to know that I'm sorry… and this last one…" his speech nearly caught in his throat, "is for me… because I hate what I did so much that to stop… I need to do it one more time… to punish…"

Link's words trailed off. Malon wanted to look away, to run crying away to the furthest place in the world she could, but she was transfixed on the blade in Link's hand that shone from the light outside.

Link didn't bother with artistry this time. He picked up the knife and brought it down quickly and forcefully as if punctuating the end of his speech. The cut was deeper and longer than any from ever before, and after seconds Link began to feel dizzy from blood loss.

Malon was unable to move. He had done it, right in front of her, making her watch. Did he know how horribly he had, with his knife, cut her heart into pieces? Seven years of waiting since that day he disappeared from the land, and then another three trying desperately to tell him how she felt… and after so long… this couldn't be happening.

"See? I did it… I don't need to do it anymore… I…" The reason Link had thought of for this abomination was lost to him suddenly. "I… What did…"

"No!" Malon found her voice again. "Link, go hurry and clean that up! Get a bandage on! Do you know how deep that is?"

"I…" Link couldn't think straight. His head was spinning. "I just wanted you to see I was sorry…"

Malon was nearly hysterical. "Link, clean it up before you _die_ from that!" she screamed.

"I'll never do it again…" Link's knees buckled and he crumpled onto the floor in a kneeling position.

Malon gained enough control to utter a quick prayer and tear off part of her bedsheet. She dashed over to Link and wrapped it quickly around his arm, tying off two ends in a square knot. She held Link's face and pointed it up at her.

There was a confused, somehow innocent look in his eyes, as if he had meant to do something nice for her and accidentally offended her.

Then his eyes lost their brightness and drifted shut. Link went limp and his head slid through Malon's arms.

Short of breath, she sat there next to Link, unsure what do to. Suddenly Apollo appeared in the door. One look in Malon's eyes told him every single thing that had happened. He shook his head, then looked down at the body on the floor.

"He's dying."

"From that one cut?"

"No." Apollo sighed. "No, Link was confused by your words, Malon. He thought you hated _him_, not what he was doing. He thought that by showing you how much he hated himself for it, you would forgive him. When he suddenly realized what he had done… his heart started to give out."

Apollo placed a hand on Link's chest and Link drew in a sharp, fluttering breath, but his eyes did not open. With that motion, Apollo seized up and sat down hard on the floor. He looked up at Malon. "It's as I told you. Whatever happens, I have to take the penalty." He coughed.

"What would happen if someone committed suicide because of you? What would happen to you then?"

Apollo's gold eyes were glazed. "Then I am reminded every single day by the voices that speak to me. But not before I hang between life and death for weeks after giving him what I could of my own life force."

Malon looked at the slowly breathing body on the floor. "What will happen to Link?"

"He's comatose. It shouldn't take more than a week for him to wake up, but when he does, he'll be healed. Completely."

Malon sighed in relief.

"I must leave."

"What?" She looked up at Apollo. "Why?"

"I cannot say yet." He weakly stood up. "I go where I'm called when I'm called there."

And with that, he walked away.

End of Chapter 4 

Yeah, a bit more… extreme than the other chapters. The story starts twisting more next time.


	6. 5: Once Upon Your Dead Body

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

Okay, the whole cutting thing is done now. Now the angst starts in a different way.

Chapter 5: Once Upon Your Dead Body "If 'hello' could only drop its 'o' 

And it stayed in the front doorway

Of your home, would you live there still?

Could that make you everything I hate?"

Coheed and Cambria, _Once Upon Your Dead Body_

As Link lay in the bed, not opening his eyes but still clearly alive, Malon began to forgive him. Some part of what he had _meant_ and what Apollo had said had registered with her. She recognized that he only meant to hurt himself for her, so that she would feel better.

It took a long time, but the wounds in her that Link had opened were healing.

As Malon was sitting at his bedside, she harkened back to the days of their childhood, when they were just twelve years old and beginning to discover the secrets of love. There was one day that stood out to her. One day where almost, _almost_ everything had gone right.

It was a beautiful day at the lake. The sun was shining warmly down, giving the water a beautiful blue color. The water itself was cool but not cold.

And of course, he was there fishing with her, wasting away the days he knew he had so few of left to spend there, before he went to the Temple of Time again and did whatever he had to do.

He was letting her win, she was sure of that. The larger fish were all on her pile, and there was something loose about the way he held his rod that said he didn't care to win. She smiled inwardly. He had no subtlety. Perhaps that was what made him endearing to her.

In the early afternoon, they went swimming. The water was perfect and the crows around left them alone.

At sunset they were nearly dry. They sat together, as children do, watching the sun go down. She looked at him and smiled. The pure innocence and joy of the summer day was pervasive, almost intoxicating. He returned her smile. They slowly leaned in and came this close, _this close_, to what would be the first kiss for both.

"Malon!"

It was the voice, predictably, of her father calling her home. On a ranch, there was so much to do in one day that one person missing could be a disaster. She barely cared, but she terribly wished that it could have waited just one moment longer, one beautiful moment. As she was led away, she saw Link with a sad look on his face, looking at the sunset all alone.

Malon sat with tears in her eyes and a wistful smile on her face. If just one thing had gone differently that day, how much better things would be now… but also, how much more painful those seven years would have been.

Still, she had made up her mind. She would forgive Link. She cared too much about him to hate him for wanting to please her.

She loved him again.

Perhaps that was why when one day she went to his bed and found it empty, and the doors thrown wide open, she cried for a day and a night, and the very few people who knew her anymore knew that she never spoke a word aloud for years.

Link trudged westward, and as a Cuckoo crowed somewhere at daybreak he imagined that he could see Malon's face. The beautiful face that had so horribly condemned him to the fire and brimstone however long ago it had been. The face of the woman that hadn't loved him.

He should have known it long ago. This land had only ever held pain for him. He would go away, far away. Where to he barely cared. Anywhere that would drive away the memories. Anywhere that could take away his love for Malon.

But, Link thought with a heavy heart, that place probably wasn't going to be easily found.

Still, one thing he knew as he looked at his miraculously clear arm. Never again would he harm himself with a blade.

Blades only left cuts on the outside. The scars on his heart and his mind would last a lifetime.

End of Chapter 5 

Sorry that the chapter was so short. I meant for it to end with Malon finding Link's bed empty and crying, but I couldn't figure out how to arrange it for that. And by the way, there are only a few chapters left. This story is really fairly short.


	7. 6: Backend of Forever

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

Well, as I said, I know how I want the story to end, and I have a couple of ideas for the middle, but it's still going to be hard and I apologize if it's a bit forced.

Chapter 6: Backend of Forever "Where and when would I see her? 

Pleasing were the words

That dribbled out your mouth

I stuttered, replacing

Your face to those words

Where and when would I kill her?"

Coheed and Cambria, _The Velourium Camper II: Backend of Forever_

_Five years later_

All the town always turned out to see prisoners. It was a grim ritual, but it broke the monotony. And it was nice to be reminded that there _were_ people less fortunate than they.

The young man was tossed roughly into the cell and the key was turned. He didn't bother to get up. He could feel the eyes of everyone on him. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing him plead and cry. He was through with people. They could go live their own lives just the way they wanted to.

His mind would not let him sleep, though. Always thoughts, stray memories were firing off. His conscience would not let him take the path he had chosen now, but still he did everything he could to for once live life for himself.

One man in the crowd, lying in what could barely pass for a bed in the inn that night, had recognized the prisoner. He was a symbol of everything that had gone wrong with the man's life, that had landed him here in this godforsaken corner of the world. He hated everything about the man in the cell.

But still, he planned to break the prisoner out.

She was getting quite good at having conversations with herself. She had had so much time to practice. No one ever came or went anymore. Her company was the animals. And her own mind, which she valued as the only one that had never hurt her.

Of course, not a word of these conversations ever passed her lips. There was no need for spoken language when no one around you understood it and you didn't need to actually hear it.

The ghosts of the past, she thought, were gone from her. People had faded into vaguely recalled names and distant shapes, events were those from a story she had heard many years ago.

She didn't really know why she would so often wake up with tears on her face and pillow. For all she knew, her life had always been like this—empty of people, with some distant pain marring her happiness.

She needed nothing more. She was hardly satisfied; she had even forgotten what it meant to be satisfied. But nothing would change. Nothing ever did.

She was not satisfied. But she accepted it.

The man in the cell was brooding again, his eyes still closed. The sound of the filed-down bars falling to the floor was lost on him. Not even did he withdraw from himself when he was picked up and slung over a strong shoulder, carried away for hours moving in a direction he did not know.

What need was there ever to open his eyes again? Seeing things would only lead back to trying to solve them. And he would never do that again. It had led to too much pain.

The man carrying the escapee was walking east. He didn't know why, all he knew was he wanted the sun to rise early, and put an end to this night. For earlier that night, when he had seen the prisoner, a box he had carefully kept locked in his mind had opened. Memories that he had drunk away with alcohol and buried suddenly surfaced again.

There was no more running away. It was time to face his past. And it began with the man right here, that he was carrying to a cliff over a river.

End of Chapter 6 

Well, the next chapter, I believe, is the second-to-last. And in case you haven't realized, I'm writing these just about all at once, which makes writing this little blurb virtually unnecessary. Still, I do go back and change them a little. In fact I'm long since finished with the story as I write this part. Oh well.


	8. 7: Three Evils

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

Almost done with the story. It's actually been very hard to write—making Link and Malon's emotions in Chapter 4 appear real was quite a challenge, I went through about three drafts. I haven't written for Zelda in years. And my old fics are deleted and my penname changed, so don't bother trying to find them… not that you'd be interested in or remember the old fics. Anyway, here we go.

Chapter 7: Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow) 

"In the face of his god, would he tell the truth?"

Coheed and Cambria, _Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)_

After days of walking and being carried in silence, the prisoner felt himself hit the ground on his feet, and realizing that he would be expected to support his own weight, completely neglected to do so. Still in what appeared to be a deep sleep, he toppled to the ground.

"Get up. I know you can hear me."

The prisoner didn't recognize that voice. It was one that spoke of loss and terrible change, and one that seemed to have deep meaning for the prisoner himself…

No. He was hearing too much again. He was through with that.

"Open those pretty gold eyes, Apollo. Tell me the truth again."

Apollo the prisoner's eyes snapped open.

The truth. _Tell me the truth again_. It rang in his ears. No. No, no, no, no… never again, he was through meddling in people's lives and taking the pain for it, it was done, finished.

The truth…

Apollo heard the rush of water. He felt his spine snap and open his body, spilling flesh and blood into the river… and he saw it happen over again.

He looked up a fraction of an inch and saw the familiar cliff. He crawled to the edge and looked over.

The body of a twelve-year-old boy floated in the water.

No. That was a lie. He was alive. That was a _LIE!_

"NO!"

Apollo's shout slammed into Link's eardrums like a hammer, forcing him backward half a foot. The voice echoed for miles. People turned their heads in a nearby town.

And on a ranch, a woman who had forgotten her own name heard the voice and froze.

Apollo dragged himself upward. "The truth is _gone_! There is no more truth! I am defying the truth by being alive!"

Link shook his head to try and clear out the reverberations, passing it off as shaking his head sadly. "If that is so, then why are you _still_ alive? You have no more purpose."

Apollo stared at Link, recognizing him for the first time. "No. No, I lied." He allowed these words to sink into his own mind, and felt a jab of pain. "I still see the truth."

Link nodded. "You saw it in that river again, didn't you."

Apollo took a deep, shuddering breath. He had seen it there all his life. He had concentrated on bringing the rest of the world truth. But he had always neglected to give it to himself: that someday he would have to end this charade.

"Good Apollo, I'm burning." The gold eyes focused on Link, who suddenly was kneeling before him. But as Link spoke, the eyes slid over his shoulder to see the woman who walked up behind him.

"There's a fire inside me that eats away at me. I _must know_ the truth." Link looked up at Apollo. "Is there any way that I can go back and fix my mistakes?"

The woman saw something familiar in these two men standing here. Which one of them had shouted?

Apollo sighed. "Link, you speak from fear through the eyes of madness. Your grief drives you to seek after the impossible. What we did cannot be undone."

"But I love her." Link's body suddenly heaved very slightly and tears slid down his face. "I always loved her. But…" his crying worsened. "No. I see why we can't change it. She never loved me."

Who was "she?" The woman wondered. The boy sounded very confused, as if he was damning himself by speaking lies just to feel self-pity.

Then she realized, that was exactly what he was doing.

She had known someone like that once before. Someone with a complete lack of subtlety, who sometimes made terrible decisions, but was the most caring and close friend she had ever had… and who shattered her heart as if it were glass. What was his name?

But first… what was _her_ name? For the first time in five years, she thought she might need to use it.

"Link, never lie to yourself." Apollo shook his head. "She loved you back with all her heart. She was so furious at your cutting because she cared about you too much to see you spiraling down. Every day while you slept, she sat at your bedside waiting for you to join her again so that she could tell you that she loved you. When you left, you destroyed that woman's life. If you had seen her for the past five years…" Apollo searched the woman's memory with his omniscient gold eyes. "You would wish to die for what you had done."

The woman stood transfixed on the spot. She remembered that feeling. As if her mind was suddenly spilling all its secrets to one person.

Secrets… and memories… and truths that had never been told.

Link.

Link. She loved Link. She remembered him and realized how much she had longed for him for the past five years, how the lack of him had destroyed her, and her legs gave way under her. Without even noticing that the end of her grief was feet in front of her, she collapsed to the ground. Her grief was far beyond the shedding of tears.

She was Malon. And he was Link.

Link felt his throat constrict. He couldn't say a word. He had left her because he thought it would make her happy… just like he had cut because he thought giving taking away his happiness would give it to her… just like he had mutilated himself in front of her because he thought she would see that it was for her. The three greatest evils he had ever committed.

It began to rain.

**End of Chapter 7**

Well, the story is wrapping up, even if it's not exactly winding down. Next chapter is the conclusion.


	9. 8: The Final Cut

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

Here we go with the last chapter. Man, I love how writing always opens up different roads for the story to go down. I at first intended a _completely_ different, much sadder ending for the story. As it is, it's fairly happy. Not to give it away. I'm going to release the alternate ending as the ninth chapter, just so you know.

Chapter 8: The Final Cut 

"Will they ever measure up to the way you left me?

Here on the roadside the bloodiest cadaver

Marked in your words, I'm the joke, I'm the bastard

Here wait, so I guess that you knew…"

Coheed and Cambria, _The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut_

Link stood up with rage in his eyes. "You started all this. If you had just never come, everything would have solved itself. The lies would have come undone anyway."

Apollo nodded wistfully. "It's always nice to wonder what might have been, isn't it? I've done it many times myself."

"Nice? You think it's nice?" Link was furious. "My life is nothing now. I walked away from everything just because I thought it would make her happy, and I wanted to escape it all. Now you tell me that I gave everything for _nothing_ and you say what could have happened is _nice_?"

Malon knew at last whose voice she was hearing. She opened her eyes and looked up. The world turned upside down. The man who had broken her heart twice over was standing there, saying how badly he regretted everything. But could she still take him back after what he had done?

Of course she could. She had loved him and missed him and forgiven him to herself so many times… It would be a dream come true.

"Fck all of this! I can't go back to her! She'll think I'm a goddamned monster! And _you_…" Link seethed. "_You_ should never have come up from this river."

Apollo nodded, gazing into the sky, still with that infuriatingly peaceful look on his face. "It's true. So much would be different…"

He remembered a prophecy, one of the few he had deigned to make, so many years ago. He knew that he had saved Link's life and the lives of many others then, by saying those few words. What-might-have-been's again… If only he could just go back and change things, how much better everything would be.

Link's hand rested on a sheath on his leg. "Of course it would." The bubbling fury was gone from his voice. "But now look. Still so little has changed." He pulled out a slender knife. "Just look at me now… back to my old ways again." The blade rested on his arm.

Malon's heart stopped. "Not again," she whispered.

Apollo looked at the knife, and Malon beyond it. "Link, don't do this."

Link saw Apollo's eyes slide off him. "You can't even watch? Be strong, Telling Truth. See what you've done to me."

Apollo gazed at the knife. He saw the muscles in Link's arm clench.

He punched Link in the jaw and tried to grab the knife away.

Link stumbled backward but kept a firm hold. The fire burned again in his eyes and he knew nothing more than his desire to kill this man, who had in one night so torn apart his life that he barely recognized himself.

Malon watched the two grapple over the knife. All she knew was that she wanted Link to win. She didn't care anymore what happened to Apollo, he deserved what she got. All she wished for was Link to come back to her. "Please," she said softly.

Link quickly got his balance and lifted up one knee, jabbing it hard into Apollo's stomach. Apollo seized the knee and tried to flip Link over, but now Link had both hands free to take the knife. He forced Apollo's arms over his head, and Apollo overbalanced, losing his grip on Link's leg. Blindly Link slashed out with the knife. Apollo stopped fighting.

Link stepped back, panting. Blood was trickling down Apollo's neck, a dark red among the shining water of the rain.

Apollo smiled sadly. The light went out of his gold eyes, and suddenly they were a deep blue-green. "The truth is told," he said in a strangled voice. Then he toppled over the cliff.

As he fell, Malon stood up. Timidly, she walked closer to Link and put a single hand on his shoulder.

Link stiffened, then turned around slowly. When he saw her face, his mind erupted into a tangle of emotions too chaotic to keep track of. But beyond it all, he looked at the face of the woman that he had always loved.

And as the body of the Telling Truth hit the water and the spine severed the skin, Malon kissed Link gently on the lips. For five, no, fifteen years she had wanted nothing more than to be with him.

The moment froze.

Slowly, time began to run backwards. The two separated, Link turned, Malon sank to the ground, Apollo rose over the cliff, Link's knife retreated and the cut closed, and then everything was a blur.

And suddenly they were all thrown to a day fifteen years back.

The Telling Truth was seated before a Gerudo who was swiftly rising in power. He had come here to tell Ganondorf to spare the life of a boy.

A boy who had just moments ago, yet fifteen years in the future, killed Apollo.

Apollo's breath became short and ragged as what had happened, no, would happen, no, would no longer happen came back to him. And he knew he had to change it.

"What is it you have to tell me?"

Apollo regained his composure and looked up at Ganondorf. Here was the turning point.

"You must not proceed with your plan. There is an evil greater than anything lurking in the shadows to consume all." It was true. The truth could not be denied. But as he had told, would no longer tell Link, it could be changed.

"If you gain a shred more power, it will strike you down. It cannot be interfered with."

Apollo stood and strode out of the tent. It was over. The others could live their lives, and he could return to his rightful grave with his task completed.

Then he stopped. No, not all was completed. He quickened his pace.

On the road to Lake Hylia, just south of the Gerudo Valley, he found an old farm hand named Talon walking there to bring his daughter home. The sun was going down.

Apollo told him to wait just a minute.

Then he suddenly knew no more.

_Are you happy with what you have done?_

Apollo closed his eyes. I am now, he thought.

_Do you see what the truth can do? Do you still believe it is right for people to know?_

I still believe the truth is the most important thing. But now I realize that it is better for the people to sort it out themselves.

_Then are you ready to allow the lie of your life to end?_

Apollo remembered the fifteen years of pain and suffering he had brought to the world.

Yes. I'm ready.

And for one moment, he felt his body strike the water before all was finished.

Link and Malon sat side by side. The rainy night cleared from their vision and they looked ahead of them at the setting sun.

They looked at each other, smiling again. But this time there was an added fifteen years of struggle, misery, and love behind their eyes. It was a fifteen years that they would be spared, and yet always have to look back on together.

They kissed each other on the lips for the second—no, the first time. A minute later, Talon came for his daughter.

Ten years later, Link and Malon were married standing on a cliff overlooking a river.

The End 

Wow. I hope you liked it. I actually wrote this in about three days. In a bit I'll write the alternate ending, and tell me which one you like better.


	10. 9: Welcome Home Alt Ending

**Apollo the Telling Truth**

Well, this is the alternate ending. I know which one I _like_ better (the one I published first), but I'm not sure which one I think fits the story better. You guys tell me. Also, when I was writing this, I just couldn't bring myself to give it a sad ending for some reason. They didn't deserve it after everything.

**Chapter 9: Welcome Home (The Alternate Ending)**

"And if it's here we stop

Then never again

Will you see this in your life"

Coheed and Cambria, _Welcome Home_

As the rain started, Apollo turned and looked over the river again. He spoke to Link over his shoulder. "This must end, Link. I always ignored the truth that I should be dead." He gazed at the water. "I have to acknowledge it now."

Link watched Apollo. "Go then. I hope we can undo what you have done."

Apollo smiled sadly. "You can't. I can."

He leaned forward and tumbled off the cliff.

Malon stood up and saw for the first time in five years the reason she woke up crying, felt in pain every day, and her only love. She walked slowly to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Link stiffened and slowly turned around. Seeing Malon's face threw him into a turmoil. He stumbled backward. "I can't come back to you."

Malon wished she hadn't heard those words. "Why not?"

Link was trying his very hardest not to give in and kiss her. "I would only hurt you again."

Apollo hit the water and suddenly time flew backward, taking them all back to a day fifteen years before.

Apollo was seated in front of a Gerudo whose power was slowly consuming the land. He had been going to tell him to spare the life of a boy.

Instead he said this.

"There is no room for your power in the world. It will be rejected if you try to take it. The one thing you can do to validate your existence is this:

"You will meet a young man clad in green. Kill him, and then never return to this land."

Apollo got up and strode away. Ganondorf called after him. "What is the boy's name?"

Apollo stopped and spoke over his shoulder. "His name is Link."

Malon stood on the ranch. Her heart was still torn in pieces from what Link had said, no, would say.

She looked around and remembered the day she had been placed into. This was when Link would disappear for seven years off the face of the world.

She ran to the drawbridge of Hyrule Castle town and saw the scene unfold. The white horse carrying the Princess and her caretaker rode by, and then the black stallion that carried the King of Evil.

She watched as he cut the young boy in front of him down.

Malon fell to her knees.

Link had been right. For the fourth time, he had somehow hurt her again, and once again without ever meaning to.

"Funny how things like that work out," said a voice next to her.

She didn't bother looking around. "Hello, Apollo."

The golden-eyed boy watched as Ganondorf rode away and Link's body remained motionless. "I told him to do that."

"I know." And she did know.

"And you don't hate me?"

"Who ever said that?" Malon looked up at Link's body again. "I hate you with every inch of my heart and soul. I wish more strongly than anything that your parents had gone on lying to you and you had never done all this to us."

"Well, take that up with my parents."

"No, I'm taking it up with you." Malon stood up and smashed her foot into Apollo's groin.

The boy's eyes rolled up in his head and he fell to his knees, holding himself.

Malon kicked him again in the face, and blood poured out his eyes. Apollo was surely dead already, but Malon didn't care. She jabbed her heel into both golden eyes.

She was breathing heavily, looking at the evil boy, the destroyer of lives who she had killed. She knew he deserved to be returned to the river, to finish his life. But she didn't care.

She collapsed onto the ground and let the tears flow freely.

"Malon?"

She gasped sharply and rolled over. There was a fairy boy in a green tunic standing above her.

Malon stood up. She had seen him die, and here he stood before her. She looked up and saw that for a moment, Navi, the fairy that always accompanied him was joined by another. Then the second one vanished.

Link was alive. Malon could not find words. Before he could say anything, Malon put her arms around him and kissed him. Link didn't try to stop her. He was alive. And they had fifteen years ahead of them to rewrite however they wanted.

The body of Apollo vanished.

The End 

THERE WE FREAKING GO. All righty. This story is all finished and a new thread begins soon.

Well, I think that this one really doesn't tie it together as well or give it as much satisfaction, but I like the twists in it. So I'm torn. But, you can pick whichever ending you like.

Thanks for reading!


End file.
